South Carolina Pastor Questioned About 'Obama Osama' Church Sign

Tools

A Flash player error has occured, please make sure you have the latest Adobe Flash Player. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

NBC NEWS- The sign in front of a small church in a small town is causing a big controversy in Jonesville, South Carolina.

Pastor Roger Byrd said that he just wanted to get people thinking when he put a new message on the sign at the Jonesville Church of God.

It reads: "Obama Osama, humm, are they brothers?"

Byrd said that the message wasn't meant to be racial or political.

"It's simply to cause people to realize and to see what possibly could happen if we were to get someone in there that does not believe in Jesus Christ," he said.

When asked if he believes that Barack Obama is Muslim, Byrd said, "I don't know. See it asks a question: Are they brothers? In other words, is he Muslim? I don't know. He says he's not. I hope he's not. But I don't know. And it's just something to try to stir people's minds. It was never intended to hurt feelings or to offend anybody."

Obama has said repeatedly during his campaign that he is a Christian and attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright has also been criticized for many of his remarks from the pulpit.

Despite some criticism, Byrd says that the message will stay on the sign.

He took the issue before his congregation Sunday night, and they decided unanimously to keep it.

Byrd also said he doesn't want it to look like controversy forced him to take the sign down.

Rich Rogers contributed to this story.

Wednesday, Jul 30 at 12:23 AM E.B. wrote ...

What ever happened to separation of church and state? This is a good example of why the church and state should be separated because you basically have a leader of a church who is ignorant and evidently hasn't picked up a newspaper and read that Obama is not a Muslim. Get past the name please!! What other stereotypes does this pastor encourage based on names?

Wednesday, Apr 23 at 1:32 PM Jerome wrote ...

Is he someone connected to Osama??? You must be kidding. Wow this really is the south.

Wednesday, Apr 23 at 10:13 AM marilyn wrote ...

It does make one think just what is Senator Obama?Is he in someone connected to Osama> We, the American people need to know the truth about his background.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

Comments are moderated and will not appear on this story until after they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.

WAGT and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

WAGT Weather

Click here for 7 Day Forecast
Icon
Current Temp 70 °F
Fair
More Weather

WAGT Weather

On Demand

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

What's On TonightFull Schedule

8:00
chuck
9:00
heroes
10:00
life
11:00
nbc augusta news
11:35
the tonight show with jay leno

Viewer Poll

Who do you think won Thursday's vice presidential debate?

  • Joe Biden
  • Sarah Palin
  • Tie/not sure